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ACHEM, The Association for Cannabis Health Equity and Medicine, is a professional medical association within the Cannabis Health Equity Movement (CHEM)™. It is a mutual benefit nonprofit organization serving the needs of BIPOC healers and health and medical professionals in the advancement of health equity, and founded by Drs. Janice, Jessica, and Rachel Knox, and Dr. Ogadinma "Oga" Obie.​ ACHEM is announcing its ACHEM Global Health Summit 2022: Our chem(H)ist(o)RY This is a FREE EVENT provided by ACHEM to illuminate and elevate our communities. "Join us as we tell our stories - the stories of people of color in relation to the cannabis plant. Presenters from ACHEM's Board of Directors will take you on a journey through various BIPOC communities, explaining their history with the plant and the industry surrounding it. Then, continue with us as panelists representing Pan-African, Pan-Indigenous, Pan-Latin, Pan-Caribbean, and Pan-Asian perspectives discuss how to utilize the lessons from our histories to get to a point of health equity - the assuredness of access to full health and wellbeing for all." Click on the graphic below to LINK to the sign in page. See you there!

My story today comes from High Times: “‘Cannabis Buyers Club’ Documentary Featured at Tribeca Film Festival” Trigger warning for the trolls in the basement: There’s some language in my story that you are not gonna like. Warm up your thumbs, ladies, here it comes. THE SCOOP I grew up in a super square Connecticut community where every single person looked like some version of me. Different tennis rackets or number of freckles on our perfect noses, but pretty much all the same. In case you think I’m kidding, they filmed the original “Stepford Wives” in my hometown. Somehow in my long meander across the country, I ended up in Los Angeles, and part of the cannabis community which fills my heart and keeps my three kids in college, yet their dear sweet 85-year-old grandmother won’t even say the word for what I do for a living. Old habits die hard. So I’m certain Mom won’t be going to New York City to see the new film called “Cannabis Buyers Club”, which made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Cannabis Buyers Club is the story of pot dealer, cannabis reform leader and queer rights activist Dennis Peron.” THE DEEPER DIVE The synopsis of the film reads: “Cannabis Buyers Club chronicles the most important unknown LGBTQ+ rights struggle of the 20th century. When a new disease ravages his community and the government doesn’t care, renegade pot dealer Dennis Peron leads a movement to help, heal, and fight back. Peron, a gay Vietnam vet, builds a pot empire in the middle of the war on drugs and fights politicians and police to save his friends. It’s the definitive story of cannabis legalization in America.” The true story of Denis Peron, as chronicled in this documentary, is that Peron was a pacifist… - ha! Some pacifist, he took on the whole world! … but during the Vietnam war he was drafted anyway. And on an R&R trip to Thailand, “… five or six pounds of some of the best cannabis in the world” came into his possession. He was assigned to the mail room after returning to his unit, where he began sending weed back to the United States hidden in cassette tape cases. Stateside, he settled in San Francisco, and set up an economic exchange business… OK, he sold pot. “His involvement in the community and political activism put Peron at the front of the effort to legalize weed in San Francisco, where he counted Harvey Milk among his many allies. Selling pot from storefronts in the Castro, Peron’s will to champion cannabis policy reform was galvanized by the AIDS epidemic, which took the lives of his partner and countless others and left his friends and neighbors wasting away. Cannabis stimulated patients’ appetites and helped keep from losing weight, prolonging their lives. "In the early 90s, Peron founded the Cannabis Buyers Club, giving patients and their caregivers a safe place to obtain the medicine they needed. In 1996, he co-authored Proposition 215, the landmark ballot measure that legalized the medical use of cannabis in California, and started the revolution that continues today." A peaceful revolution, not like murderous baby headed thugs on January 6th. “These events could only have happened in San Francisco, which stars in this film alongside Dennis and other colorful characters: Brownie Mary, Tony Sera, Joe Banon, Greg Corrales. It was the perfect political storm where the AIDS crisis crashed into the drug war and a liberal city fought against a conservative state and won. Precedents were set in justice, the repercussions of which are still felt today, with new states legalizing cannabis every year.” THE LAST WORD Back in Denis Peron’s day, in my hometown, people would have called him a pacifist long-haired hippy fag. Maybe now they’ll give him the title he deserves: American Hero. ### Image Source: Tribeca Film Festival

This story was carried in several sources and I'll cite The Fresh Toast but originally reported in Benzinga, “Study: Cannabis Makes People Better By Increasing Empathy And Sense Of Selflessness” It has a special resonance for me. THE SCOOP A new study, titled “Cannabis Consumption and Prosociality” published in Scientific Reports from the University Of New Mexico analyzed the psychological characteristics of healthy college students under the influence of THC. It turns out, that young adults with recent marijuana use had better scores on standardized measurements of pro-social behaviors, empathy and moral decision-making based on principles of securing harmlessness and a sense of fairness. I’ll tell you how I know there is truth in these findings. This past week I was in New York City at the CWCBE conference that was hosted flawlessly by our friend Gretchen Gailey. I had taken a redeye flight, had a terrible hotel and barely slept, spent 2 very long days on the floor and at evening events - as you do at conferences. I was exhausted and dehydrated and didn’t know it. Thursday evening, I went to a party on the roof of a Times Square hotel. I ate a little, had a big glass of water and some club soda, no alcohol – doing all the right things – had one dab, and was fine… but about 20 minutes later I started getting higher and higher. Like the elevator suddenly started shooting toward the top floor. I knew something was wrong but I couldn’t stop it. My head was heating up, the sound went funny, the walls started wobbling, then closing in… I sat on a little wall, there was about 6 feet from the wall to the edge of the roof so I was never in danger of falling off, but I was in a crisis. I was alone, 3,000 miles from home, I didn’t know a soul at the party, and apparently I went over backwards. When I came to, I was being held by two people I’d never met or seen before – a white woman and an African American guy. I was really out of it and they looked absolutely terrified, which told me I must have been in really bad shape. But the way they were holding me and supporting my body, I felt completely safe. And for a moment, in this Father/Mother/Holy Ghost position, I thought to myself “Did I just die?” I was very confused, I couldn’t feel anything except their strong hands and I just wasn’t sure. But I also knew that if this is what heaven was like, I was OK with the way things had worked out. Their faces told me that up or down, I was in a place I was supposed to be. Words are failing me to express this warm feeling of embrace by people different from me, strangers who were the ultimate friends, but it was glorious. So Jenny and Dorian, in case you happen to be reading this, I am profoundly grateful to you for being beautiful human beings. For standing with me for more than an hour to make sure I was OK. And to everyone else, I am 100% fine – I knocked out 2 hours of on camera interviews at the show the next day, I’ve worked out, I’m eating, sleeping, drinking oceans of water… I am OK. No, I’m better than OK because of these wonderful people, and because of this cannabis community that operates at a different level of humanity than any group I’ve ever known. I cherish these relationships and this community. It is special and needs to be honored and protected. THE DEEPER DIVE Protected from what, you ask? We have enemies all around us. Legislators at every level who fail us, law enforcement who steal from us and arrest us, Reefer-Mad Prohibitionists who ban us from their towns (guaranteeing the illicit market will thrive and their kids will always have access to weed), industrial enemies like Big Pharma, Big Tobacco... People who would say, as someone apparently said about me when I went down in New York “Don’t touch him.” (Thank goodness my angels didn’t listen.) But we all know those enemies, I want to talk about enemies who are inside the wire. Snakes in the Grass. People who pretend to be friends but who attack us from the inside our own community. People who are noisy but cowardly, who have secured our "likes" and "follows" on social media and use them to throw cruel words and false accusations at us. These people are traitors and are betraying all of us, right now in the back channels, on their socials and God knows what other lies and slander they’re saying about us in the real world. I don’t know why you would do this. I don’t know why but I do know who. I know who is betraying us under their own names, and I know who is working behind the scenes. I won’t name you. Yet. But I know. We know. What's confounding is, you are people with talent and skill and experience and high levels of education, big job titles. People whom any industry would be proud to include. Why would you risk your integrity and reputations to attack good people? But worse, why would you do the work of our real enemies? Because who is happier than our real enemies when we start to fight each other. Our enemies want to destroy us, our companies… your companies by the way… why are you helping them? I don’t know why but I do know this: It must stop. THE LOOP AROUND The State of Cannabis News Hour was created by Susan Soares over a year ago to fight for the plant that we love and respect. She brought together a deeply missioned, impassioned group that share cannabis stories from all media each weekday. We’ve done 300 shows together, told nearly 3,000 stories together. We have 30,000 people in this community. I am profoundly elevated and grateful to you who present, listen, share, argue, laugh and cry with us, and I don’t know of any other group, organization, or company that’s done as much in such a short time. I have learned more about what it is to be a human being on this planet at this time from these people here, than in all my decades of life. THE LAST WORD To our enemies who are attacking us from the inside, I say this: Take your attacks somewhere else. Use your power, your skill, your energy, somewhere else. Not only are you humiliating yourselves, you are harshing my mellow, boys and girls. Because (from the top of this article) we know that science says cannabis makes us better humans. I’ve experienced this truth in the most profound way possible, thanks to Jenny and Dorian, who embraced me with love and caring on a rooftop full of strangers. ### Image source: Photo by KoolShooters from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-and-woman-wearing-angel-costumes-8513040/

The Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo (CWCBE) is coming to New York City for the EIGHTH TIME, from Thursday June 2 to Saturday June 4, 2022. The cannabis industry's most important east coast event will be held again in the Jacob Javits Convention Center, Hall 3A, 11th Avenue & 38th Street, NY, NY 10001. CWCBE 2022 will be co-hosted by journalist Carl Cameron; Founder and CEO of Pure Genesis Faye Coleman; Cannabis pioneer and entrepreneur Calvin Frye; and CEO of Panoptic Strategies and the CWCBE's Chief Strategist, Gretchen Gailey. The theme of CWCBE 2022 is "Where Deals Get Done." Here are just a few of the familiar faces we'll see at CWCBE this year: KEYNOTE CONVERSATIONS Tremaine Wright, Chairwoman of the New York Cannabis Control Board, and former member of the NY State Assembly and Chris Beals, CEO of Weedmaps Mona Zhang, States Cannabis Policy Reporter for Politico Nick Kovacevich, CEO of Greenlane Holdings, and Tim Seymour, Co-Host of CNBC's "Fast Money" ... and other special guests whose names are being kept secret until the event. But rest assured, CWCBE does not disappoint! SPECIAL PAVILIONS In a unique development, CWCBE is providing a dedicated section of the event space to Women Grow (Gia Moron, President) for the first Women Grow Pavilion featuring 15 women-owned cannabis companies. The Education Pavilion to promote cannabis curricula from multiple colleges The "She-Blaze" Podcast LIVE from the Exibition floor, and the Proud Mary Lounge to provide exhibit space and a safe environment for the LGBTQ+ entrepreneurial community and to recognize Gay Pride Month. CONFERENCE PROGRAM: Curated and Hosted content organized around the following themes: Day 1: Thursday: Investing and Industry Progress Day 2: Friday: Policy and Legislation Day 3: Saturday: Cannabis and Lifestyle SOCIALIZING & NETWORKING CWCBE attendees also have the opportunity to attend special Networking Events including The NORML Formal, The Networking Mixer hosted by Weedmaps, (co-sponsored by NY Waterway, MGO and the law firm, Prince Lobel); The "After" After Party on the roof of Yotel in Times Square The Industry Yacht Party EVENT SCHEDULE Here's a breakdown of the CWCBE Schedule: Thursday, June 2 Expo floor open: 10 am – 5 pm Conference program: 11 am – 4 pm Networking Mixer: 5 pm – 7 pm Friday, June 3 Expo floor open: 10 am – 5 pm Workshop: 9 am – 11:30 am Conference Program: 11 am – 4 pm Industry Yacht Party: 6 pm – 10 pm Saturday, June 4 Expo floor open: 10 am – 3 pm Conference Program: 11 am – 2 pm CANNABIS WEEK EVENTS & DISCOUNTS And... it's Cannabis Week in New York City, so have a look at all the Events, Coupons, and Savings Opportunities HERE The CWCBE events are organized and presented by Leading Edge Expos, Christine Iannuzzi, CEO. ###

A good story for Memorial Day: “The United States Cannabis Coalition is proud to announce the appointment of retired US Army Sergeant Boone Cutler to its Advisory Board. A noted author, radio talk show host and veteran’s advocate, Cutler is an important activist for cannabis PTSD treatment and joins Board Member and former US Army Infantryman Tyler Nixon on the USCC’s Committee on Veterans Access.” I have to admit, I got a hankering for this guy. If there’s one person who’s most responsible for motivating me to have written more than 500 articles on cannabis, and read on The State of Cannabis News Hour more than 150 times, it’s Boone Cutler. He helped me reach a whole new level of understanding about why cannabis is so important, especially for for Veterans , how cynical the Veterans Administration is in forcing wounded veterans into an opiate nightmare, which is perhaps one of the reasons why the suicide rate is highest ever among active military, and more than 6,000 veterans take their lives each year. If you have a moment, please read “There must be a reason I’m not pulling this trigger” - the Boone Cutler Interview” THE DEEPER DIVE Boone Cutler was an Army paratrooper in Iraq, fought in Falluja, and was hit by a mortar shell explosion that led to 17 surgeries at Walter Reed and other VA hospitals where they gave him what he calls ‘the combat cocktail’; 27 different mainly opiate and psych-based medications. "Recognizing that the overload of pills was ruining his life, Cutler switched to medical cannabis and finally found relief from his symptoms." “Cannabis literally saved my life.’ Cutler says, ‘the VA’s combat cocktail was killing me. I was a zombie and my symptoms were getting worse, not better. When I learned that Israel and other developed countries successfully use cannabis to treat issues like mine; it became my mission to fight for my Warfighter family to get the same life-saving cannabis that helped me. Together with the USCC, we will win the fight for real PTSD treatment." Cutler was one of the founders of the Warfighter Hemp company in Colorado. Also, his situation had been so bad he considered suicide many times, and then created The Spartan Pledge, which has saved countless lives: "I will not take my own life by my own hand until I talk to my battle buddy first. My mission is to find a mission to help my warfighter family." “The demonization of cannabis has become a political movement that’s partnered big-money Pharma lobbyists with politicians to keep it all going for decades” said Cutler, “Good people have been duped, bad people have been made rich, and our families have suffered needlessly. Cannabis-based medicine helps when we stop the madness and treat the patient”. USCC board member Michael Bowen concurred saying, “Boone is the voice for the millions of veterans pleading to replace the VA’s opiate overload with safer marijuana alternatives. Our work together in ending pot prohibition will save millions of lives”. THE LAST WORD The US Cannabis Coalition is a very interesting group. From the roster of its advisory board, once can see it’s a wildly bipartisan group founded by Roger Stone – Trump Advisor, and Democratic Activist John Morgan, all led by Steven Hawkins, former head of the ACLU. I look forward to interviewing Mr. Hawkins on the Pro Cannabis Media platform in 2 weeks. And finally, because this article mentions suicide, I’d like to add this information from my research: “If you are a veteran in crisis, call 911 or the veteran crisis line at 1-800-273-8255. If you’re a veteran who needs help, call 211. Veterans will be directed to veteran assistance, including legal aid, health, and financial resources. ### Image Source: Boone Cutler

It seems like just yesterday that I reported on a very similar story to this one by Marijuana Moment "“California Marijuana Retailers ‘100 Percent’ Compliant In Checking IDs To Prevent Youth Access, Study Finds”, but I guess it’s been a year already… or two??? I dunno, COVID has warped my sense of time. The coppers are testing whether the drawbridges of cannabis castles are functioning properly, and sending some underage-looking folks to try to get into dispensaries without showing ID. They’re trying to prove the Reefer Madness theory that if there’s a cannabis retail shop in town, “the kids are going to have access”. If I recall correctly, California did very well at this in the earlier story, and Colorado and Washington were also nearly perfect. This year, as reported in this article by Kyle Jaeger, the coppers tried the same stunt in 50 random dispensaries across the entire state, and again, California was 100% effective at requiring ID and keeping underage people out. The study was published this month in the Journal of Safety Research. And it makes sense, of course: when the market is legalized and regulated, and sales occur through licensed dispensaries, then you have a strong gatekeeper system that KEEPS underage kids from buying cannabis. Dispensary owners stay righteous about IDS because first of all, CANNABIS VALUES ARE AMERICAN VALUES AND WE CARE ABOUT THE WELLNESS OF OUR KIDS. AND YOUR KIDS. Additionally, their license already requires them to get vetted and fingerprinted by the FBI, so they’re not likely to mess around with such a sensitive issue; AND IF THEY DO THEY RISK their VERY LARGE investment that it took to get the shop up and running. And in case none of that is compelling enough, “In California, anyone who provides cannabis to someone underage faces up to six months in jail and a maximum $500 fine for a first offense.” And the regulated market has been EFFECTIVE in keeping kids from getting cannabis underage. Study after study shows youth use is down where cannabis is legal and regulated. “One of the most recent federally funded surveys on the topic stressed that youth marijuana use “decreased significantly” in 2021, as did teen consumption of illicit substances overall." Read this article and you’ll find 10-20 links to good studies on the subject. BOTTOM LINE: The system works. THE DEEPER DIVE On the other hand, when the Reefer Mad, Prohibitionist crowd gets control, and no retail dispensaries are allowed “in order to protect the children”, OR BECAUSE THEY’VE OPTED-OUT IN ORDER "TO PROTECT LOCAL CONTROL” in places like Walnut Creek, California and others… well the very opposite happens. LOCAL CONTROL MEANS NO CONTROL because it’s also been shown that THE WAR ON DRUGS IS LOST, that law enforcement doesn’t do it as well as we do. When there’s no legal retail then street dealers control the market and THEY DON’T CHECK ID. Kids are MORE LIKELY to get access to weed from the illicit market. And it's not because law enforcement is inept, it's because the desire for cannabis is too strong and WHEN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT SOMETHING, THEY GET IT. That's the reason the Prohibition of Alcohol failed, because the legal market pulled back, organized crime was more than happy to fill the void and provide, and Government finally realized that keeping alcohol off of American tables was not worth the amount of blood on the streets. Government relented, reorganized, and regulated the alcohol market and that's what needs to happen with cannabis. The end result? The only legacy of Prohibition of Alcohol is the entrenchment of organized crime. THE LOOP BACK The main reason I like this story about licensed operators doing the right thing, and it’s not told enough, is because of the connivance of the Reefer Madness crowd that’s exemplified in California by THE LEAGUE OF CITIES, and similar groups in other states. “Opting out” is a hot topic in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, and the Prohibitionists are rejoicing. In my opinion, the League of Cities has a hidden anti-cannabis agenda, which they did not disclose when they pushed for the “Opt-Out” provision of California’s legalization code, Proposition 64. They said they were pushing for “local control” but what they really are, in my estimation, is simply anti-cannabis. And they won their first round – almost 60% of California municipalities opted out of allowing cannabis. So whoop dee doo for opting out, have some more pie. BUT WHAT THEY REALLY ACCOMPLISHED is devastating for the California economy, robbing us of hundreds $Millions in tax revenue, and $Billions over time, they’ve been terrible for small farmers, terrible for patients, terrible for educating citizens, terrible at protecting our children ... BUT GREAT FOR THE ILLICIT MARKET. Bravo, Buttheads. ### image source: Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/security-logo-60504

Here at the American Cannabis Report, we've been following the dramatic story of Billy Caldwell, The Boy Who Changed the Law in the UK. As a parent, as a human being, once can't ignore the facts of what this family has endured and, thanks to cannabis medicine, how they have emerged stronger and more determined than ever to lead a country (and the world) to understand and accept the profound potential of The Plant. Today on Facebook, Billy's mum Charlotte posted an extremely uplifting post. I wrote her immediately and asked permission to re-post it here in its entirety. She was pleased to approve! "I’m so thrilled to be able to tell you all that our little Wizard is thriving . ZERO seizures . Cannabis Medicine is saving my son's life. He is doing things that I thought he would never do. He is running , jumping , laughing, loving life. When literally every single pharmaceutical given to him failed to preserve his life, when they had nothing left for us but to wait for him to die - cannabis medicine is working. Even after six years, it is blowing my mind to watch this beautiful and innocent child who could never fake or pretend getting better- show such great improvement using cannabis oil as medicine, despite such an aggressive and devastating medical condition. Just six years ago, Billy was having hundreds of seizures daily. I didn’t share the half of what he has been through with any of you on this page. I couldn’t do it. Just after his first Christmas he had upwards of 300 seizures. The doctors sent him home to die while he was still seizing because there was nothing they could do to help Billy. They had nothing. When he was in intensive care, they put Billy to sleep for six days in an attempt to stop his seizures. His body started to shut down. Some days, he was stuck in status epilepticus (a constant state of seizure) and now, I think the pictures say it all. Look at Billy ……. there’s no doubt in my mind that he will keep MAKING it. I have never been so grateful in my life that we have legal and safe access to cannabis medicine for this little boy. This medicine is unequivocally, without a doubt in the entire world, saving his life right now. Thank you for loving Billy. Charlotte ……. #iambilly #nhs #IAmBilly See also: https://www.facebook.com/Iambillyuk https://iambilly.uk

Dear Readers, If you have an hour and want the latest cannabis news read to you, check out: The State of Cannabis NewsHour - 05.25.2022 The State of Cannabis NewsHour | RSS Podcasting HERE'S WHAT'S COOKING on TODAY'S SHOW: Rico Lamitte 420-friendly Airbnbs: Popular stays and how to find them Jason Beck Delaware governor vetoes marijuana legalization bill Gretchen Gailey Equilibrium/Sustainability — Cannabis industry faces product safety concerns Menaka Mahajan First month of adult-use cannabis sales in N.J. brings in $24 million - New Jersey Monitor Adelia Carrillo Cannabis cafes could soon be coming to Massachusetts Christopher Smith Pigeon seen smuggling cannabis into Peruvian prison Brandon Dorsky New Report Says Price, Convenience Fuel Illicit Cannabis Market Guy Rocourt Businesses confused on cannabis taxes Shalina K. Pannu, Esq. The CSIRO Could Soon Develop Medicines That Make You, As the Kids Say, Trip Balls

If there wasn’t a file on me in Washington yesterday, there’s one now. That’s because I Googled “How to Smuggle Drugs into Prison” as background research for my article on the State of Cannabis News Hour today. And that’s sure to raise a flag in a sub-basement somewhere. Don’t worry, Dear Readers, I won’t rat you out as accomplices in this dastardly scheme to make a news story interesting. I ain't no stool pigeon. THE SCOOP In 2019, a Cincinnati couple were arrested for trying to smuggle heroin into a prison. “Deputies became suspicious after noticing a stain on a square of their Bible, which later proved to be heroin – enough to be broken up into 30 or 40 hits and distributed among the inmate population.” This is just one way that people have gotten busted trying to smuggle drugs into prisons in recent years, a subject on which I’m now a Google expert. Others include: 20 grams of pot inside a baby’s balloon Drugs blended into paint and applied to a coloring book marked “To Daddy” Drugs put inside dead birds and thrown over prison walls. Tennis balls are also used, though there’s not so many tennis courts on prison grounds. Maybe that works in white collar prisons like Trumpers are going to Underneath stamps on letters Methadone-soaked underwear ... and the usual smuggling cavities you can imagine. This category is called “Hidden internally.” THE DEEPER DIVE But… in Peru, the national police have announced that a pigeon has been captured trying to smuggle cannabis into Huancayo Penitentiary. Of course, the only way to announce such bird shenanigans is using Twitter so you can TWEET about it (I’ll be here all week...) In said tweet, the Peruvian National Police reported officers found the bird, which had a “circular package containing marijuana tied around its neck,” near the prison’s main door. “… Perhaps parched, the cannabis-carrying bird was spotted this week when it touched down … near the administrative building to drink some water from a puddle...” Clearly an amateur pigeon was used. “Upon catching the bird, agents saw that the delivery package was made of a light blue fabric that had been wrapped in duct tape... To the surprise of all involved, the package held “dry green seeds, stems and leaves with a characteristic marijuana smell”. Media reports indicate the package contained 30 to 40 grams of cannabis, the recreational form of which remains illegal in Peru. As for medicinal marijuana, growing, importing and commercialization the plant is exclusively reserved for the Peruvian state. (So the Gov controls the weed industry in Peru? That’s not shady...) Citing the national police, The Global Frontier reports that agents with the National Penitentiary Institute of Peru believe the pigeon has been trained to transport drugs from outside to inside the prison. That’s some crackerjack investigating right there. It is further suspected the bird was brought to the area by a relative of an inmate. It appears the drugs were destined for the prison’s Pavilion D, where security officials report someone was earlier seen feeding a pigeon. So if you’re listening in Pavillion D of Huancayo Penitentiary, the National Police are onto your pigeon scheme. Should have used a tennis ball. ### image source: Photo by Sneha Cecil on Unsplash

Here's a head-scratcher from the ABC news affiliate in Detroit, WXYZ: [Trigger warning, this story is about police mistreating cannabis operators, which is triggering for many who have experienced the hard heel of Johnny Law's boot. There’s no violence in this story, just all-American assholery]: We’ve heard all manner of law enforcement's attitude and entitlement in the State of Cannabis News Hour. I thought the all-time winner would be the Bakersfield sheriffs that knocked off three armored cars that were carrying cash from cannabis businesses in broad daylight; stole all their cash; got in the news for doing it, were forced to return the cash, and still had the nerve to say “my sheriffs are not highway robbers.” ... second-place trophy for the broad-daylight knock-over of Jungle Boys shop in Los Angeles... Come to think of it, we’ve heard a lot of these stories recently (social media is good for exposing corruption). These are not the worst, they were only among the most recent. And here’s a new entry in the Cannabis Hall of Shame: “On the night before Christmas 2020 in Highland Park, Illinois, Hubert Yopp was stirring.” Serving his second tour in the city’s big chair, the Mayor was captured on surveillance video circling a particular building on Hamilton Avenue. It had once been a church, but it had recently closed. Justyna and Matt Kozbial had bought it, fixed it up and they were using it to grow medical marijuana. The couple, who both immigrated from Poland, say they secured 13 caregiver licenses that gave them permission to grow in excess of 150 marijuana plants. But on this day, Yopp and then-police chief Kevin Coney were making an unannounced visit, according to police records, to (finger quotes) “conduct a fire inspection.” After Yopp and Coney gained access to the building, they saw marijuana being grown inside and deemed the former church “(an) illegal narcotics operation." Using the state’s asset forfeiture laws, they seized the entire 13,000-square-foot building. And after 510 days, they’re still holding the building, even though the Kozbials have never been charged with a crime. And here’s where we venture into the twilight zone: “Months later as the Kozbials tried to get their building back, Justyna says the city made an unusual offer: “They offered to give the building back for two police cars” The offer is spelled out in court records: Stop growing marijuana and buy the city two new police cars, and we’ll give you your building back. In fact, according to an email from a Highland Park lieutenant, they had two vehicles in mind from a local Ford dealer totaling nearly $70,000 And by the way, the City didn’t tell the County it had seized the building for 8 months, and then tried to cut its own deal with the Kozbials for the cars. Both actions are no bueno… THE LOOP BACK "It was a shakedown with a badge and a lawyer," the Kozbial’s lawyer, Marc Deldin said ### Image source: Photo by Darya Sannikova: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-sitting-on-steps-2927515/

In the race for Pennsylvania's hotly-contested US Senate seat, Republican votes are still being counted this morning. Better late than never, The American Cannabis Report is putting our full support behind Dr. Mehmet Oz to represent the Republican Party in that race. Cannabis values are American values. The American cannabis community believes in personal freedom and responsibility for adults to enjoy the full promise of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" as stated in the Declaration of Independence. The cannabis community believes that citizens of the richest country in the world should have access to the Medicine, Health, and Wellness benefits provided by God's Favorite Plant(TM) The cannabis community knows that God's Favorite Plant is safer than alcohol, tobacco, opioids, sugar for the health and wellbeing of our people, with no known overdose deaths in 12,000 years. Even in our limited cannabis industry, more than half-a-million Americans are employed in the cannabis industry, the fastest growing employment sector in America. Yet somehow, in the effort to legalize and normalize cannabis after 85 years of illegitimate Prohibition based on "Reefer Madness" lies, Republicans consistently vote against such progress. We are not sure why Republicans hate American freedoms and vote to disrespect responsible adult decisions, and to keep medicines from vulnerable children and military veterans with crippling and fatal medical conditions. Consistent with these radically un-American attitudes, Dr. Oz said the following about cannabis on NewsMax last night: “There are not enough Pennsylvanians to work in Pennsylvania. So, giving them pot so they stay home I don’t think is an ideal move. Also, I don’t want to breed addiction to marijuana. It’s not physical addiction, it’s emotional addiction. But I don’t want young people to think they have to smoke a joint to get out of the house in the morning. We need to get Pennsylvanians back at work, got to give them their mojo, and I don’t want marijuana to be a hindrance to that. I also don’t want people operating heavy machinery and driving by me when they’re taking their fourth joint of the day.” These arcane, false, ignorant, 19th century beliefs seem to form the core beliefs of Dr. Oz' parents' generation... and we are not surprised when 80 year-olds who have been indoctrinated since birth on Reefer Madness lies might have stopped caring about cannabis truths. But Dr. Oz is only 61 years old. He is a physician with multiple degrees and honors, a successful TV career and an estimated $100 Million net worth. One would think a mind like his would be incapable of such nonsense... But since he's revealed his absolute ignorance about cannabis, we recommend that he run against the best Pennsylvania candidate for US Senate: John Fetterman . From Fetterman's campaign website: "John doesn’t look like a typical politician, and more importantly, he doesn’t act like one. He supported legalizing marijuana before it was popular, officiated a same-sex marriage before it was legal, and pushed for single payer healthcare long before it was mainstream. The issues John is running on now are the same issues he’s been working on for the last two decades." We can't wait to see how Dr. Oz' typical-Republican ancient ignorance about cannabis stands up to modern scrutiny, and to watch Fetterman lead from the floor of the Senate, while Dr. Oz is only available in Oprah reruns. ### Image source: Twitter

Spotted an article in NJ.com with a heartwarming headline: “How These Black Families are Helping Each Other to Enter N.J.’s Legal Weed Market” THE SCOOP The Father-Son team of Donald and Skye Blanks are applying for a dispensary license in Keyport, which is on the northern end of the New Jersey Coast. They have plans to operate from a former Wells Fargo Bank. You'll see the picture of the father and son at left, suited up, the son a spitting image of his dad, standing in the doorway of the bank vault. The Blanks in a bank, hoping to make some bank! According to the article, the Blanks are “operating under Wanda James’ Simply Pure brand. Simply Pure and Wanda James made history as the first Black-owned dispensary in Colorado.” They are also working with another equity applicant father-son team: Darrin Chandler and Darrin Chandler Jr. who run Premium Genetics based in New Jersey but operating in Colorado. “Both fathers come from the background of a market where cannabis was still illegal. They are now helping their sons — and each other — on the legalized side of the market.” … and here’s some happy talk for ya: “The dynamic is an example of one of the core aims of legalization — generational wealth for those impacted by the War on Drugs. For the Blanks to win a license in the Monmouth County shore town will take the state one small step closer to helping to fulfill New Jersey’s core mission in ensuring racial equity and economic justice. THE DEEPER DIVE So, a great feel-good story, but I worry that it has the potential to give people the wrong idea about how "social equity" is actually working in New Jersey and other American states. If the Blanks and the Chandlers are able to get licensed and make a go of it, they will be two of the too-few. “Social Equity” and “Generational Wealth” are magic words these days. They have the same feel as “The American Dream” … that if you get a license, it’s your golden ticket, and your children’s children will be wearing Gucci diapers. Which might be true if states like New Jersey practiced what they preach on social equity. The clues that this is not the case are hidden in plain sight. That quote above about "fulfilling New Jersey’s core mission in ensuring racial equity"? It’s actually a LINK to another article in the same publication. The headline under that link is: “BLACK BUSINESSES FEEL SHAFTED AS N.J. GETS SET TO CHOOSE WHO CAN GROW AND SELL WEED LEGALLY” …which says: “For all of the talk of social equity … the average prospects for Black ownership equity in America was between 1 out of 20 and 1 out of 50 in the cannabis industry, according to statistics released by cannabis platform Leafly.” ... and ... “The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission had touted on Oct. 15 how diverse the businesses being awarded vertically integrated and medical cannabis licenses are. Except most, if not all, of those minority license winners were white women. In the following days, applicants of color would claim they had not received accurate points for being “minority” applicants in the scoring and award process.” By the way, Al Harrington, who was born in New Jersey, was rejected by his home state. THE LOOP BACK Also, the Blanks are opening a dispensary only at the moment. Retail is tough, and only one part of the cannabis puzzle, especially while 280(E) penalties still apply. Unfortunately, the potential for true generational wealth (wealth that will sustain for several generations in a family) might exist with the larger licenses that allow vertical integration. “Those licenses with vertical integration and access to making their own supply of cannabis are some of the most economically valuable ways to get into the cannabis industry — and to create generational wealth,” said Jamil Taylor, who wrote the applications for Al Harrington, “There’s an imbalance… To be clear white women were not the targets of the War on Drugs,” he said. Stay tuned in New Jersey and let’s see if the Blanks, the Chandlers, and the Harringtons, can get a piece of the pie that’s estimated in the $billion$ in just a few years. ### IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.nj.com/marijuana/2022/05/how-black-families-are-helping-one-another-in-the-nj-cannabis-market.html